PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – There were missed opportunities after missed opportunities and that’s just describing a red zone series where the Panthers bumbled to get plays in, get set and instead of a potential touchdown, they went backwards. What Pat Narduzzi and Nate Yarnell said of it and other notes from the Pitt 24-20 loss to Clemson.
Red zone follies
Pitt was first-and-goal from the Clemson two-yard line and had to settle for a field goal early in the fourth quarter to cut the Clemson lead to 17-10. On that series, the Panthers called time out as Derrick Davis was diving into the end zone, then a couple of incompletions along with delay of game and false start penalties.
“We didn't break the huddle fast enough a couple of times,” said Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi. “We were huddling up; maybe we should have just gone tempo, and we were too slow getting lined up, and it starts with me making sure they're ready to go.”
“I call a time-out when Derrick Davis goes over the top. I don't know if they stop play, and I didn't see that play yet, but I look back at myself like maybe if I didn't call that time-out, maybe it's a delay and we score a touchdown and we don't matter. But we need to score at the 2-yard line. We've got to get -- six points. Put that one on me for calling a time-out. I was just worried about that clock going down. We were tight on time, and I didn't want to be backed up five yards for a delay of game. So operationally we've got to clean that up.”
“It’s my fault,” said Pitt quarterback Nate Yarnell. “I take responsibility for that. Offensively, I’m the quarterback. I got to make sure everything is smooth and it wasn’t. I’ll take responsibility for that. We should have scored there, no doubt about it.”
Rush D dominant but 1 play
Pitt allowed 58 yards rushing on 27 carries, 50 of those yards came on the game-winning play as Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik ran through the Pitt defense to put the Tigers up 24-20 with 1:16 to play.
“I think we were in a two-man concept, which got us at the end of the half, too,” Narduzzi said. “Again, maybe went back to the well too much on that.”
“As you guys know, through the year our defense has been outstanding. I had complete confidence in them at the end of the game. Two-minute, I'm like, shoot. That two-minute at the end of the half, two-minute at the end of the game, our defense has been lights-out all year, and they got us into good coverage and we didn't rally and make a play on the quarterback. We've got to get him down. He took it to the house. At least let them kick a field goal and tie it up, whatever. We just didn't get him down. It's on us as coaches.”
TFL
The teams combined for 13 sacks (8 by Clemson) and 29 tackles for loss (16 by Clemson). Tigers linebacker TJ Parker had 4 sacks and 4.5 tackles for loss to go with a forced fumble, pair of quarterback hurries and a pass breakup. Linebacker Barrett Carter had a game-high 12 tackles (9 solo) with two tackles for loss, two quarterback hurries and a pass breakup.
Pitt linebacker Kyle Louis had 3.5 tackles for loss with a pair of sacks. Linebackers Rasheem Biles and Braylan Lovelace had 1.5 tackles for loss and a quarterback hurry each.
Related
Penalties
The Panthers committed 13 penalties for 100 yards Saturday. In the previous game it was 11 penalties for 75 yards against Virginia. There were 66 yards of penalties in the loss at SMU.
“We've just got to be cleaner,” Narduzzi said. “It's attention to detail, and we talk about it every day. In crunch time, we've just got to be more disciplined. Again, we've got a disciplined football team. We're not an undisciplined football team, but things happen in the heat of the moment and guys get anxious, and we didn't do a good enough job.”
Senior Day
In today’s ever-changing world of college athletics, you never quite know (although most are out of eligibility). Here are the Pitt seniors who were announced for Senior Day
Matt Altsman, Gavin Bartholomew, Dylan Bennett, Daniel Carter, Jason Collier, Jake Frantl, Brandon George, Cam Guess, Ryan Jacoby, Nate Matlack, Josh McCarty, Donovan McMillon, Matt Metrosky, Konata Mumpfield, Phillip O’Brien, Ben Sauls, Branson Taylor, Keye Thompson and Pete Vardzel.
“I feel bad for our seniors,” Narduzzi said. “Wanted to get it for those guys. We had a six-game win streak on senior day and our kids fought their tails off.”
Breaking the skid
With Louisville and Boston College on the road to end the regular season, Narduzzi said of going forward.
“They're not going to lose confidence after what they did out there today,” Narduzzi said. “We've got a good football team in there and we played a good football team. They aren't crappy. We've got a darned good football team, and we just keep our heads up. We've got two more guaranteed games and then we'll move on from there.”
“We got to stop all this losing, losing, losing,” said Pitt linebacker Kyle Louis. “We got to stop this. We got to stop that. We lost three-in-a-row, no more out of this.”
“We've got a really good Louisville team on the road, and then we've got to pick up the pieces, and our guys will do that,” Narduzzi said. “They were great in the locker room afterwards. It's the game of football. It's what we do.”